Page 18 of Her Billionaire Boss
“Glad to see you join us today,” my assistant, Bethany, quipped as she dropped my tablet on my desk.“I thought you got mauled by another bear.”
“No, I had a new employee to show around.”I ignored the pointed look she gave me.Bethany was a great assistant, super organized, and she’d handled my absence in stride.But she came with an attitude that matched her severe schoolmarm hairdo.
“I scheduled your requested brainstorming session for three.Which gives you…” She checked her smart watch.“…four hours to read through and signallof these financials.”
I grimaced and scrolled down the screen.“How good are you at forging my signature?”
“It’s better for me if you don’t know that.”She gestured her creepy long fingers at the tablet; Bethany looked like what you’d get if the ghost of a Victorian governess graduated from Brown.“Read.”
“What about lunch?”I called plaintively after her.
She didn’t stop her march toward my door.“I can order something in.”
“Never mind.I’llorder it in,” I called after her reed-thin form as she disappeared through the door.
Or possibly disappeared, full stop; I wasn’t sure Bethany was entirely corporeal.
It was difficult to concentrate.One, I’d only just returned to the office, and I still wasn’t in the right headspace for endless concentration.Two, I kept wondering about Charlotte and if she was doing all right.I would get through a few pages of mind-numbing reports before my thoughts would wander to what she might be doing, if she was getting along okay.
You’ll see her at three.You’ll see her at three.It became my sole focus and the only thing pushing me through the day.
At around two-fifty, I asked Bethany, “Do you think I should show her where the conference room is?”
She gave it a moment of thought.A very pointed moment of thought.“Did you hire someone to consult for this company despite thinking this individual was incapable of asking someone where the conference room is?”
“No, but—” There was no “but.”Bethany was blunt, but right.I sighed helplessly.“She’s from California.”
“They have conference rooms in California,” Bethany said dryly.“My advice—which you didn’t askfor—is to stay as hands-off as possible with regards to your new hire.Let her figure things out.It’ll be easier for her, in the long run, if the entire office doesn’t see the boss constantly holding her hand.”
“Hands off, no handholding,” I repeated.
“Like the sexual harassment section of the employee handbook says.”Bethany indicated a short stack of papers on my desk.“Are these ready to go?”
“Yeah.Scan them and send them to—”
“Dan Reynolds in Chicago.I know.”She took them and left, and I paced for a few minutes before heading over to the conference room.
Charlotte arrived just as I did.I didn’t know why I’d been expecting her to seem bewildered, overwhelmed, generally unable to cope with the world around her; maybe I wanted an excuse to help her.But she greeted me with a big smile.
“How’s the first day going?”I asked as I held the door for her.
“It’s—” Her words cut off abruptly as she stepped inside.
Everyone I’d called to the meeting had arrived ahead of us.Jack and Neveah from legal, Carol from our real estate office, Leo, who dealt with all things architecture and engineering, as well as our head of interior design, Poppy, and everyone’s assistants.The place was crowded.
“Good afternoon, everyone,” I said cheerfully, hoping they didn’t notice the little nudge I had to give Charlotte to get her into the room ahead of me.“This is Charlotte Holmes.I’m mentoring her as she leads our new project.
“What project?”Jack asked with the laid-back, privileged white kid smirk he’d worn since college.I didn’t particularly like him then, and he hadn’t grown on me at all in the intervening years, but he could play the legal system like it was Super fucking Mario Bros.“We haven’t had a new project since...”
“Boston,” Carol finished for him.A middle-aged Black woman nearing retirement, Carol’s most recent battle for a prime location for one of our luxury hotels in the Cradle of Liberty had made her nearly resign about seven times.I hoped this would go better.“This isn’t going to be as bad as Boston,” I promised her.“For you, I mean.Jack, Neveah, brace yourselves.”
“Oh god,” Neveah muttered under her breath, pushing a few thin braids behind her ear.“Here we go.”
I ignored her, because she was entitled to her wariness.It was her department that would have the largest hurdles to clear, I assumed.“We’re adding another Ascend property.”
A mix of groans and excitement rippled around the table.
“I love doing those,” Poppy said, already scribbling something on her tablet.“I love the looks on the designers’ faces when I explain the job to them.What’s the theme?”
